Venezuelan president says he supports Bogota summit with opposition

By Laura Gamba

BOGOTA, Colombia (AA) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he supports a summit in Colombia to promote talks between his government and the opposition.

"I expressed Venezuela's full support to him so that this summit allows energizing and reviving our country's struggle to achieve respect for our sovereignty, respect for our independence and the definitive lifting of all unilateral coercive measures on Venezuela, on the basis of what we have always sought: political dialogue," he said late Monday at a public event.

The announcement was made one day after Colombian President Gustavo Petro arrived in the US where he will meet President Joe Biden later this week and the central theme will be Venezuela.

Petro said he will ask Biden to lift sanctions against Venezuela, which would benefit the Maduro government.

"More democracy, zero sanctions, is the objective of the conference in Bogota," Petro said at UN headquarters in New York, the first stop of his US visit.

Colombia convened representatives of several countries in Europe, Latin America and the US to the international summit to be held on April 25 in Bogota that will seek to unblock the negotiation process between the Venezuelan opposition and the government, which has not advanced since November 2022.

"There are great expectations about the conference. We are going to be very aware of all the events and their development, proposals, and conclusions. It is a good opportunity to look for ways to overcome this era of sanctions and blockade that has affected Venezuela so much," said Maduro.

Colombian Foreign Minister Alvaro Leyva announced last week that the conference would include representatives from 15 countries who will seek to help unravel negotiations in Venezuela.

One opposition leader, Juan Guaido, said Monday that removing sanctions would allow Maduro to "continue violating human rights."​​​​​​​